ShakeUp
by psycochick32
Summary: When Tommy joins the team, the repercussions spiral out from the small group of friends and throughout Angel Grove. The Power Team has to face several challenges - in and out of the spandex.
1. Wary

1 - Wary

"Look, Jase, it's not that I doubt your judgment-"

"Really? 'Cuz from where I'm standing, it looks like it." Jason ran his hand through his hair, scratching idly at his scalp. He hated - absolutely _hated _- to fight with his friends... especially his best friend. But it had been a crazy, long week, and everything that had happened had Jason feeling inferior and useless.

Zack questioning his decision to invite Tommy to join the team - and more importantly, their circle of friends - was unfortunately the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Jason..." Zack trailed off. He wasn't quite sure what else to say. He loved Jason like a brother, but the boy could be so stubborn sometimes that getting through to him was like knocking down a brick wall with your head: you got nowhere and ended up with a headache.

Jason sighed. "Zack, I'm sorry, but I'm sick of fighting about this. Tommy has the coin; he has the skills."

"Really, you think? He's been using them against us all week! And now-"

Jason's glare brought Zack's mouth closed with a snap. Frustration glinted in the Black Ranger's eye; Jason forced himself to overlook it for the time being.

"And _now_," he stressed, "Tommy is one of us. Look, he's new and doesn't have any friends. It's obvious Kim likes him - well, at least, she did," he had to concede for a moment, but forged ahead, "and so we'll probably be seeing more of him anyway. There's nobody else to give the coin to. It belongs to him. He's a member of the team... so get used to it."

Zack stayed silent, staring Jason down.

The teen in red sighed and raked his hands over his head again. "Look, I have to go to dinner. Mom will be ticked off if I miss another one. I'll see you tomorrow."

Zack nodded curtly, and Jason left with another frustrated sigh. It wasn't until the door shut that Zack allowed himself to slump onto his bed.

Jason's decision had been too hasty.

It wasn't that Zack had something against Tommy. He was sure Tommy was a perfectly nice guy. Well, probably. Maybe. It wasn't like they'd had a lot of time to chit-chat before he suddenly swooped down like a... well, like a Power Ranger-turned-bad guy. Jason had planned on sparring with him after school; Jase hadn't shown (or so they thought... in the end, Tommy'd kidnapped their leader, which didn't really sit well with Zack). Kim had invited him to join them at the Youth Center; he never arrived, and then he'd nearly made her _cry_.

Okay, so Tommy had been under a spell. That wasn't anything new; heck, Rita had Billy wearing a collar and Kim accepting a date with Skull, for goodness sakes. But... they hadn't tried to kill the team. And as much as Zack loved making new friends, it was hard to welcome the guy with open arms after everything that had happened.

Zack didn't want to think of it as a grudge - it was more... being cautious. Tommy had lied to Kim's face about Jason not showing. Who's to say he wasn't still a good liar? Who could say for sure if it was all from Rita's spell? They didn't know anything about the guy besides that he was good at kicking ass, and that he followed Rita's directions religiously while under her spell.

He flopped backward on his bed, groaning. And now Jason was all indignant because Zack would prefer to exercise a tiny bit of restraint in going "Hey, great job nearly destroying us! You should be on our side!" They'd all been friends before being picked to be Rangers... so shouldn't Tommy get to know them before joining them on the battlefield?

It wasn't an issue of trusting Jason's word or judgment. It was a matter of trusting Tommy.

-xxx-

Jason was seething as he walked home. It was thankfully a long walk - plenty of time to get himself under control - but all his usual attempts at taking his problems and shoving them into a tiny ball in the back of his mind to be thoroughly ignored just weren't working.

He'd never tell his friends, but being named "leader" often drove him to the brink of insanity. It fell to him to make the decisions other people didn't want to, or decisions that would break other members of the team. The group was tight-knit, though, and arguments didn't tend to last long. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he fought with Zack...

until now.

He sighed (he'd been doing that far too much lately) and threw his head back, running his hands over his face as he stared up into the clouds as if they would part and give him the answers.

No matter what he did, it was going to upset somebody. And the one person he really thought he could talk to about things thought he was making a major mistake.

He was frustrated, sore, mentally and physically exhausted; they'd been pulling long hours all week, first trying to figure out who the Green Ranger was, then how to get Tommy back, how to get Zordon back, not to mention how to fix the Command Center and their zords. That's not even touching on all their battles...

Tommy had thrashed them up and down Angel Grove. It had almost been pathetic and Jason's ears burned with the humiliation.

But the Green Ranger was on their side now. It was a great blow to Rita, to lose her prized warrior, and it was good for the team to have another solid fighter. Billy and Kimberly were getting better, but Jason wouldn't worry about Tommy the way he worried about them.

'_Zack will.'_

Jason bit back a curse, shoving that thought aside. Zack had made that point more than clear, and it rankled in Jason... he just wasn't sure why. It wasn't as though Zack had a track-record of being wrong… he could be goofy, but saw what other people overlooked and was a great judge of character. He'd had brought several great ideas to the table as Jason's second-in-command; the Red Ranger never had a reason to question the Black Ranger's intuition. So why was it so upsetting now?

'_You're tired of being wrong.'_

'_I'm not wrong this time!'_ he shot back, taking only a mere moment to question his sanity as he began to argue with himself. Normality had left his life long ago. _ 'I know I screwed up a lot this week. I let myself get captured; it never even occurred to me that the new kid might just be the new Ranger and that was pretty stupid considering his personality did a 180 for no other good reason. But this is different! If the team can get their act together, we'll be a lot stronger!'_

If- that was the magic word. Zack was clearly unimpressed with Jason's idea; in fact, the Black Ranger seemed hurt that Jason hadn't at least taken a moment to bring it up to the rest of the team first. He cringed; it had been a spur-of-the-moment decision... and while he didn't regret it, Jason did feel bad for not thinking about everybody else.

But he wanted to wipe that self-hatred off of Tommy's face. It was obvious that the moment his head stopped ringing from Rita's spell, the enormity of what he'd done began to eat away at the Green Ranger. Jason remembered a similar feeling - the day he'd first caused a death, when his zord stomped a house still occupied, he'd spent days wracked with guilt and self-loathing.

The best way to combat it was to keep fighting, as dumb as it had sounded when Trini said it to him. She had been right. He couldn't save the person who died, but he could keep trying to save others.

Being on the other side of the battlefield would be good for Tommy.

'_If the team can trust him. Otherwise, won't it make things worse?'_

Jason clutched his head and wanted to scream. Why in the world was he arguing with himself? He was the leader - he didn't have the luxury of second-guessing his decisions.

'_That's what Zack is second-in-command for. And you jumped down his throat for doing just that.'_

Jason growled and kicked a stone in his path, watching it bounce away into somebody's yard.

Was his decision stupid? Was he setting himself... the team... _Tommy _up for failure? And why did his conscience sound like _Kimberly_, of all people?

-xxx-

"Tommy, sweetie?"

Tommy looked up from his homework with a sigh. He'd fallen so far behind that week, considering how much time he'd spent on the moon and in Rita's Dark Dimension... not really a good first impression on the school. Or the town, if they had known who was behind the green helmet. "Yeah?"

"Phone for you."

"Who is it?"

"A _girl_," his mother cooed, with a bit of a smile in her voice.

Despite himself, Tommy blushed at his mother's tone. "I'll pick it up in here. Thanks!" He stopped himself from reaching for the phone, though.

He could only think of two girls that would call him: Kimberly or Trini. He didn't know Trini all that well, and Kimberly... he cringed at the memories. He wasn't sure the pretty Pink Ranger would even want to talk to him after everything that had happened - and he wasn't sure if he had the guts to face her.

"H'lo?"

Luckily, he didn't have to. "Hi, Tommy."

"Trini?" Duh. _'Stupid question.'_

"Yeah. How are you holding up?" She sounded genuinely concerned, and for that Tommy couldn't help but feel grateful. After everything he'd done...

He really didn't deserve her concern, or her kindness.

"I'm... alright, I guess. Hanging. Getting caught up on some homework; I fell really behind after-" He cut himself off. There was no need to go into detail.

Trini forged ahead through what would have almost certainly been an awkward pause. "Do you need some help catching up? We usually all try to meet in the park on Saturdays... do some homework, play some games, do a little practicing one-on-one."

Tommy sighed, looking out the window. He really didn't have any plans for the next day - maybe just working on his karate, but he could do that any time. It was tempting... his family had moved so often that he hadn't had a chance to make close friends; this was supposedly their last move, though, and it'd be nice to have some people his age to rely on.

'_Maybe I'd better hang out with people I didn't try to kill...'_

Shifting the phone from one shoulder to another, he replied, "I- uh... I dunno, Trini. Maybe I should-"

"You won't get caught up as quickly without help," she pointed out, clearly refusing to take 'no' for an answer. "And this way we can really get to know you. You're one of us, now, and we'll be more effective the more we know of each other. Right?"

"Well-"

"Good. We usually meet on the far end of the park, opposite the parking lots. Take the trail straight back and it's in the big open area. We're usually over by the picnic tables around noon. Don't be late!"

The phone hung up with a _click_, and Tommy was left somewhat speechless.

Sure, Jason had said he was "one of them" now, but after everything that went down, it was hard for Tommy to really believe it. Why would they want him hanging around? He nearly single-handedly destroyed Alpha (though Billy had fixed that quickly enough) and wiped their mentor off the map (but when Tommy was brought back to the Command Center after their bit of grandstanding toward Rita, the place looked like he'd never rampaged through there); logic dictated that they would keep their distance. Sure, he knew their secret, but he'd never tell... after all, he'd have to explain how he found out, and he'd never been a good liar. It wasn't like he wanted to broadcast his work as the Green Ranger.

It wasn't that he didn't appreciate it. Tommy was more than thankful for a chance to... well, he couldn't make things right, but he could try and make up for the damage caused by his rampages. He just didn't want to throw an obviously close-knit group of friends into a tizzy just to make room for him.

It didn't look like Jason was going to let him slip away, though. And now, neither was Trini.

Tommy wasn't sure whether to be thrilled or terrified; he wasn't sure what they were expecting from him, either.

Shaking those thoughts away, he packed his backpack and set his alarm clock. He'd better get to sleep - maybe he could keep his lateness down to a minimum, at least in the beginning... and set a good impression for his second chance.

That's what it boiled down to: a second chance... at everything.


	2. Changes

2 - Changes

Tommy got out of his truck and booked it across the park, shrugging his backpack over his shoulders and cursing his bad habit of slapping the snooze button with every step. It just figured he'd be late - it seemed like he was _always _late.

'_Probably not a good trait for a supposed superhero,'_ he reflected grimly. He passed the wooden bridge where the putties had attacked Zack and Kim when they chased after him and forcibly shoved down the memories.

It didn't take as long as he'd expected to find the group, and he was glad to see he wasn't the last to arrive; Zack wasn't there, either. Jason was performing a slow kata and Tommy stopped to watch with a critical eye. He wasn't sure if his input would be welcome, but he noticed Jason was dropping a shoulder on a spin and took a mental note of it for later.

His gaze traveled over to where the girls and Billy were leaning over a picnic table, books spread around them, paper tucked underneath to keep them from blowing away. He held a breath as he began second-guessing his agreement to come to this little gathering...

Sure, Trini and Jason had been friendly... and the others hadn't seemed to be too angry with him in the Command Center. Billy made him a communicator, and Kim had smiled so encouragingly when Jason asked him to join the team...

But she hadn't been able to meet his eye in the Command Center later that day, and he didn't blame her. He'd been really cruel...

Kim threw her pencil down in a huff, and Tommy bit back a grin. She was awfully cute when she was angry. Trini looked up then and waved; he blushed, hoping she hadn't caught him staring at the Pink Ranger. She motioned for him to join them; he rocked back and forth a moment, uncertain.

"C'mon, slowpoke," she called teasingly, and his lips quirked into a smile. Jason whirled and grinned, jogging over. Billy nodded in acknowledgment; Kim shot him a look over her shoulder before quickly turning back to Billy and apparently asking him a question, ducking her head.

'_That's weird.'_

"Hey, glad you made it!" Jason clapped a hand on his shoulder, smiling all the while. "Trini said she called; I was gonna but mom was being crazy about the phone and all."

"That's fine," Tommy said, shrugging. "It's just nice of you guys to invite me here."

"You're one of us now, bro. Get used to it!" Jason looked at his bag. "Lots of homework?"

"Mainly physics," he grumbled. "I can't stand it."

Jason pointed a thumb over his shoulder. "Billy's a whiz at it; I'm sure he'd be glad to help. In fact, he'd probably be thrilled if you asked," he suggested. Tommy nodded, getting the message.

"Is Zack coming?"

A dark looked crossed Jason's face quickly; Tommy blinked in astonishment and then Jason was forcing a smile on his face. "Yeah, probably. He's running a bit late today... I think he had family visiting."

"Uh, alright..." Tommy wasn't sure what to say. "I'd better get onto my homework. I've got a lot to do."

"Yeah, get to it! We'll probably take a break to spar in an hour or so, 'kay? We're just waiting on Zack."

Tommy nodded and, steeling himself with a deep breath (he ignored Jason's muffled snicker), headed toward the picnic table.

"-I just wonder if he's going to show up," he heard Kim murmur as she glared balefully at the English book in front of her. "It's not like them to fight like this."

"Zack changed the subject when I tried to bring it up last night," Trini said, shaking her head. "Why don't guys ever talk about their problems?"

"Because boys are dumb," Kim declared, putting down her pencil.

Billy looked up, mock-glaring at the both of the girls in turn. "While I agree that the quarrel is both quite out-of-character for both of our companions _and _could cause great complications in our future endeavors, I'm disinclined to believe it will persist for a great length of time."

Tommy blinked. _'Does he always talk like that?'_ He hoped not; he felt like his vocabulary devolved just listening to the Blue Ranger speak.

Thankfully, it appeared he wasn't the only one.

"What?" Kim interrupted.

"He doesn't think it'll last long," Trini explained with a smile.

"_Furthermore_," Billy stressed, smiling when Kim shrugged sheepishly for breaking in, "I believe it is an unfair misrepresentation of myself and fellow males to place the onus of their actions on their gender, rather than their personalities."

"We shouldn't say they're dumb just because they're guys," Trini translated quickly. Tommy wondered how often Trini ended up speaking for the Blue Ranger – it seemed like she didn't have a problem with it.

"Well, they are," Kim grumped, sticking her tongue out at Billy. She jumped when Tommy couldn't hold back a chuckle; apparently she hadn't heard him come up behind her. Billy's and Trini's eyes sparkled with amusement.

"Good afternoon, Tommy," Billy said with a nod. Tommy smiled when Trini echoed her friend.

Kim was clearly flustered, looking everywhere but at Tommy before she took a deep breath. "Hey."

Tommy noticed she was a bit flushed and shuffled his feet. "Uh, hey."

"Trini invite you?"

"Yeah." He threw a thankful look to the Yellow Ranger, who motioned to the open seat next to Billy, across from Kim.

"Sit down," she suggested. "You said last night you have homework to do; what subjects do you need to go over?"

"Physics; the rest is busy-work but I just can't wrap my mind around these formulas-"

"You have the class with Mr. Fewler?" Billy wondered. Tommy nodded, and Billy's face lit up. "How fortunate! I've tutored several of his students with his encouragement; if you would like any assistance, please feel free to-"

"_Yes_," Tommy interjected, throwing an amazing amount of appreciation and hope behind that one word. "...please?"

Trini and Kimberly giggled; Tommy blushed as he began flipping through pages, looking for his folded-up homework.

-xxx-

Jason let out a breath, silently thanking the Power that _something _had gone right. After a bit of a tense start, it seemed as though Tommy fit in well with the others. Billy was more than excited to lend a hand on homework, and Trini had reached out easily enough.

And hey, Kimberly had invited Tommy to the Youth Center after just a few minutes of even speaking to him before everything hit the fan. It wasn't like her to hold a grudge, so they'd be fine. He straightened his shoulders unconsciously, pleased with himself; if there was anything he could be sure of, it was that Kim would be excited to spend more time with the guy she had gushed over at the karate tournament.

'_See?'_ he thought proudly, _'I _can _help her rather than chasing away every guy she likes.' _ He made a mental note to point that out to her in private eventually.

One problem down.

Jason cast a glance around the park again. Zack still hadn't shown up. It wasn't like the Black Ranger to stay angry for long - much less at his best friend - but things hadn't been this strained in a while. He'd just come to the conclusion that Zack wasn't going to show when the teen broke through the trees, heading straight to the picnic table without giving Jason more than a passing glance.

Jason groaned softly, rolling his eyes. _'Figures. Of course, the whole week has been one step forward, two steps back... so hey, why stop now, right?'_ Resolving to get to the bottom of the dispute, he purposefully made his way over to the group. It hadn't been even a half hour since Tommy sat down, but Jason figured they'd better get a work-out in before getting too involved in homework.

"Let's take a little while to get some other work in!"

Jason watched as Tommy practically leaped from his seat. "Great! I could use a break."

"You've only been working for 15 minutes," Trini teased.

"I told you I hate physics," he laughed in response.

Billy remained silent and began stretching near Trini; Zack stood on the other side of the Yellow Ranger. Kimberly bent over to stretch her lower back and Jason found himself holding back a stern glare when he caught Tommy ogling her.

Jason smirked at the Green Ranger's clear discomfiture when Tommy looked up, met his eyes, and blushed. "So, why do you guys do this, again?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

Zack rolled his eyes. Trini gave him a shove and turned to Tommy, hoping the teen hadn't seen. "It's good training, for one. We all have different skills, and learning new things keeps us on our toes."

Jason nodded, "Also, Rita likes to screw around with us. Some of her plans mess with our minds... it's usually something dumb-"

"Yeah, says you. I used a bottle and a half of shampoo washing all the product out of my hair when Billy and I were turned into punks," Kim interjected wryly.

Jason snickered at the memory before continuing, "-but she can get really smart sometimes. If she turns us against one another, then-" He bit his tongue, suddenly realizing just who he was talking to. Tommy had gone pale.

"Aw, man. I'm so sorry, bro. I didn't mean-"

"No, it's..." Tommy licked his lips, not making eye-contact with anybody. "It's okay. It's a good point... I guess I'm proof of that, right?" He forced a laugh and Jason flinched.

"Anyway..." Jason looked around the group quickly. "We should probably just pair off and run through a couple quick sessions. Nothing too rough, since we don't have mats here... but then, we don't have mats really when the putties come, so..." he realized he was babbling and cut himself off, taking a deep breath. Trini put a calming hand on his shoulder.

"Okay. Um, let's see... hey, with six of us, we'll have even pairs!" he pointed out happily. Now it was a matter of whom against whom? He didn't feel like taking on Zack - he was still feeling a bit bitter, if he had to be honest.

"Trini, you'll go against Zack." Zack didn't react at all. The Yellow Ranger nodded, though Jason caught her looking thoughtfully at him and turned away before she could be psychoanalyzing him. Not that it would stop her.

Jason then looked to Billy and Kim; who to pair with Tommy? Tommy was really skilled... after all, they'd tied in the match before Rita mucked everything up. As much as he'd like to take the Green Ranger on again, it'd probably be smarter to wait until they were someplace safer. Besides, Billy and Kim were the two that needed the most work, so there was no real use putting the two of them together.

He wasn't sure if Tommy had taught any lessons before, though. Kim would probably hold her own a bit better, even though Jason was sure Tommy wouldn't just beat his opponent into the ground. He had too much honor to do something like that, especially when his opponent was clearly weaker.

'_Hey, it's not like Kim should mind,'_ Jason told himself. _'Considering how much she drooled over him at the tournament, some one-on-one time would be good for her. Can't have her staring at him when we're supposed to be fighting putties and monsters. Plus, then she can't say I'm being "too overprotective" of her.'_

Nodding to himself, Jason looked at Billy. "I'll work with you today." He turned to Tommy, "Will you work with Kim? She's pretty good on defense but could use some work taking the offense."

Tommy shot him a panicked look, catching Jason off-guard. _'What? He was just staring at her ass a minute ago!'_

"Is that a problem?" Jason wondered, raising an eyebrow. Great, the first test of his authority was to get Tommy to work with a girl he thought he liked. Why was this an issue?

"I- uh... um," Tommy rubbed the back of his neck, eyes darting around before he gave a quick nod. "No, that's fine. It's good. Offense. Good idea."

Jason turned to look at Kim, who seemed even more uneasy. "Kim?"

"Yeah?"

"You okay with this?"

"Oh... I- well," she fumbled for an answer. "I mean, you know, I'm not really all that great and like, he and you are really both pretty awesome at fighting and so maybe you two should work together and I can be with Billy?"

Jason lifted an eyebrow, a bit bewildered by her suggestion. "No offense, Kim, but you're really not in a good position to be teaching Billy stuff... which is why I'm going to work with him today. Tommy can help you." He winced when Kim stared at him like he'd shoved her in the mud - a mixture of disbelief and upset that he couldn't even begin to understand. He made himself ignore it, smile and add lightly, "What, you think Tommy's going to pound you into the ground?"

"Not exactly, but-"

"Hey, I won't make things too hard," Tommy interjected, stepping forward. "And I'd never hurt you intentionally." Jason threw him a thankful look, clapping his hand on the young man's shoulder as thoughts of the previous week clearly flew through his mind. Seeing that, he shot Kim a remonstrating look; her unwillingness to work with Tommy wasn't just weird... it was making the Green Ranger feel guilty.

Kim shifted from one foot to another, chewing her lip. "Um, okay." She snagged Trini's arm as the Yellow Ranger walked past her to meet up with Zack. "Trini, I just remembered my shoes are in your bag and I really shouldn't fight in heels so... let's go grab them. You can help me put them on."

Jason blinked. _'Does it really take two girls to change a pair of shoes?'_

He turned back to Tommy, but was interrupted by Billy's confused look. "I don't want to seem like a bother, Jason, and your lessons have always been very well-taught. But I'm curious as to why you've chosen to change a previously successful arrangement. Working with Trini has been most propitious-"

"We can't let ourselves get complacent or used to just one style of fighting," Jason interrupted. It wasn't like he didn't value his friends' input, but he was getting really sick of everybody questioning his decisions. Was this going to be a common thing? Was he the leader or not?

Billy mulled that over for a moment and then gave in - whether out of agreement or realizing that his leader was growing frustrated, Jason wasn't sure.

"I'll be right over, if you want to finish stretching out," Jason said, before turning back to Tommy. The Green Ranger was staring at Kim and Trini with a look of consternation on his face as she _slooooooowly _changed her shoes, quite obviously babbling at Trini at something close to a thousand words per minute. Jason crossed his arms and cocked his head, raising his eyebrows when Trini looked over her shoulder at them. "Is there a problem, girls?"

Kim looked up, shaking her head quickly. Trini giggled and Kim swatted her. "No, we'll be right over," the Yellow Ranger assured them.

Jason shrugged. "We've been friends forever and I still don't know anything more about girls than I did before I started hanging out with them," he told Tommy wryly.

Tommy grinned and rubbed the back of his neck. "I haven't spent much time with them, truthfully... my family moved around a lot. I didn't have a lot of time to make friends."

"Well, you've got us now!" Jason said, clapping Tommy on the shoulder. "You going to be okay working with Kim?"

"As long as she's okay working with me." Tommy winced, "I don't really blame her for not wanting to-"

"Don't think about, bro. She's just being... Kim. You'll catch on soon enough."

-xxx-

Zack bounced, watching the girls with amusement and waiting for Trini to finish commiserating with Kim so she could come work out with him. Working with Trini was always fun; she was a challenge but didn't place as much importance on winning.

The Black Ranger had been torn between frustration and amusement at Jason's fumbling when it came to dividing them up. If he'd been in charge - not that he wanted to be; in his opinion, leading was a thankless job with lots of stress - he would have put Tommy and Trini together, had Jason work with Kim, and he would have volunteered to spar with Billy. Kim didn't seem comfortable around Tommy just yet; then again, Zack wondered if Jason really knew the mean things Tommy had said. After all the Red Ranger had been in the dark dimension for most of it...

Jason. That's what it all came down to. He was confused by his best friend's attitude... he'd usually been so good about accepting constructive criticism. After all Jason's claims of teamwork and working together and learning for each other, he was being remarkably hard-headed about accepting that he may have made a mistake.

If anything, he could have asked the team first.

"Oof!" He was suddenly staring up at a blue sky from his back. "Not cool, Trini."

The Yellow Ranger leaned over him. "Maybe you'd better start paying attention, instead of getting lost in thought."

"I thought you liked seeing your friends use their brains?" he teased, regaining his feet and taking a defensive stance.

Trini smiled as she moved into a flurry of kicks and punches. "Thinking is good most of the time - sometimes, though, we have to let go and go with our gut instincts." She stressed the last two words, and Zack faltered.

'_How does she always know what we're thinking?'_ Honestly, it bordered on creepy sometimes.

The momentary lapse in concentration earned him a light kick to the stomach. With a grunt he waved, conceding a point to her.

They bowed, and Zack took the offensive.

"I thought you might not show up," Trini said chidingly of Zack's late arrival.

"Yeah, well, family and all that." He danced out of the way of Trini's counterattack and spun behind the Yellow Ranger to pin her arms behind her back. "Besides, this is a team thing, or so you said last night. Teamwork is important."

"It is," she agreed, acknowledging Zack's victory. They moved back into position. "And a big part of teamwork is trusting each other."

There was no accusation in Trini's voice, but Zack cringed nonetheless. "Why wouldn't we trust each other?"

"I never said that."

He grumbled under his breath, pressed to the breaking point by her subtle pokes and prods. "I didn't feel like talking about this last night, and I still don't," he insisted.

She stopped, placing her hands on her hips and pinning him with a glare. "Zack-"

"Sorry! I'll see you guys tomorrow or at school!"

The duo turned to see Kim scampering off, bag thrown hastily over her shoulder - her homework still scattered on the table. Tommy looked bewildered.

Jason was pinching the bridge of his nose. "Alright..."

"What happened?" Zack demanded. Kim could be a bit flighty, and she often tried her best to get out of things she didn't want to do... but he was surprised to see her actually physically running away.

Tommy shrugged, eyes still on where Kim had taken off to in the trees. "I-I dunno. I was showing her a combination and we were doing fine. She has really good form," he said as an aside to Jason, who nodded his agreement. "Anyway, she was having trouble with a block, so I went to move her into position. Out of nowhere she ran over to the table, looked in her bag, grabbed it and took off."

Trini sighed and rested her face in her hand, counting backward just loud enough for Zack to hear. Jason tilted his head back, staring at the sky as if searching for answers. Tommy still looked bewildered, and Billy just shrugged.

Zack chuckled. _'What a mess.'_

After a moment, everybody seemed to pull themselves together. "So what now?" Zack asked rhetorically. They were back to the five-person team... surely Jason would have Tommy go over and help with Billy.

"Okay," Jason sighed, "Trini, why don't you come and work with Billy and me? Tommy, you'll take on Zack."

Zack's shoulders dropped and he bit his tongue to keep from making a snarky comment; Trini elbowed him sharply and he straightened.

"Alright. Let's do this," Tommy said, passing Trini. Zack sized him up quickly. When they'd fought before, both had been powered-up. However, Tommy had been a match with Jason at the tournament, and Zack knew that made Tommy rather dangerous. He knew what he was doing... but how would the Green Ranger handle his Hip Hop Kido? After all, they hadn't done much hand-to-hand combat in their battles.

Tommy and Zack bowed before Tommy took a defensive stance, silently inviting Zack to make the first move. He grinned and pulled himself into a spin, dropping suddenly to swipe his legs at Tommy's feet. He leaped over them and retaliated with a swift kick and punch, both of which Zack avoided with a backflip. He landed with a smooth couple steps back, just enough to throw Tommy off-balance, and moved forward to catch Tommy on the shoulder with an open palm.

"Point?"

Tommy nodded, a smile slowly making his way across his face. "Where'd you learn that? That move was awesome."

Zack couldn't help it; he preened a little. "Thanks. I call it Hip Hop Kido. I took karate lessons with Jason when we were younger, but ended up taking dance classes later. I've mixed the two, kinda like what Kim did with her gymnastics."

The Green Ranger nodded as they slid back into position. "That makes sense. I'll have to spar with you more often, see if I can't pick something up."

Zack blinked. _'From me? Tommy's a top-class martial artist...'_ He shoved the stray thought to the back of his mind as Tommy came at him. From there, the two continued an easy one-on-one session. As Tommy came over to help him reposition his arms for a better arm-bar, the Black Ranger began to feel the first stirrings of guilt... at least toward Tommy. He'd been really quick to judge the Green Ranger - not that it'd been difficult, considering his attack on Angel Grove and all. But still, he seemed really repentant, eager to make friends, and even a little shy.

That didn't excuse Jason's actions any, though. They were a team, and Tommy's attack, no matter how much it was influenced by evil aliens on the moon, really rattled their spirits. Inviting him to join them right away should have been a group decision. Jason wouldn't even listen to Zack's reasoning, and it rankled in him to see that his best friend seemed to be brushing off his concerns... even worse, the Red Ranger seemed to resent them.

"Hey, you in there, man?"

Zack twitched, pulled out of his thoughts as Tommy stared at him. "Yeah, sorry about that." He forced a laugh. "Just doing some heavy-duty thinking. Wanna see if I can do this without breaking my arm?"

Tommy nodded, unquestioning, and the day continued.


	3. Back to School

3 - Back to School

Kimberly peered out from under her blanket, glaring darkly at her alarm clock. She was warm, she was comfy, and she'd finally managed to get to sleep.

School really needed to start several hours later.

Despite her fervent wishes, though, time stops for nobody (well, except maybe Rita) and she finally hauled herself out of bed. There was primping to do and she really had to find Billy before the bell rang; taking off from their group practice wasn't the smartest thing she'd ever done... neither was leaving her homework behind. Trini had shown up hours later to make sure she was okay, return her stuff... and tease her about Tommy.

She couldn't help herself, though. Things were so _weird _now. She'd really thought there was something there... and then Tommy had turned out to be evil. Sure, it was against his wishes, but she couldn't help but wonder if he'd meant what he said.

Nonetheless, he was still unfairly gorgeous, a major hunk, and when he touched her arms to move show her how to properly block, her stomach had tied up in knots. She couldn't help herself. She wanted to throw herself at him - and _boy_, would Jason be unimpressed if she did that! Not to mention, Tommy would probably think she was insane...

So she ran.

This, she realized later, probably made her look even more like a nutcase. _'Way to go, Kimberly!'_

Kim got dressed almost on auto-pilot, straightening her hair and putting on a light bit of make-up before the all-important task of picking out her shoes. Not too tall (it was kind of sexy how Tommy seemed to tower over her sometimes, despite her usual irritation at her lack of height), not too impractical (putty attacks could happen at any time), not too expensive (Rita loved her disgusting, usually slimy monsters)...

'_Sometimes I really hate being a superhero,'_ she pouted as she passed over one of her favorite pairs.

"Honey, you'd better get a move on!"

With a sigh, she grabbed her cutest tennis shoes and slipped them on before tearing down the stairs. "Love you, mom," she said, kissing her on the cheek as she grabbed a granola bar. "I'll be back late."

Once down the road, Kim slowed to a walk. It wouldn't do to arrive all red-faced and looking like something the cat dragged in.

It was early enough that the moon still hung in the clear sky and she scowled at it, wondering when Rita was going to attack again. It wasn't like her to stay quiet for so long... especially considering they'd thwarted her evil plan to keep Tommy as hers. Would she try to get him back, or would she consider it a lost cause? Kim wondered what it would be like having Tommy on their side of the battlefield. He'd been a powerhouse for Rita, and the Dragonzord was _way_ cool.

"Hey, Kim, wait up!"

Kim spun, pasting a smile on her face. "Morning, Jase!"

Huffing and puffing, her friend joined her at the corner. "No car today?"

"Mom has to work a double," she explained. "Where's yours?"

Jason blushed, and her interest was piqued. "I was late getting home again last night... and after last week, dad read me the riot act and took my keys."

She sympathized. Life would be easier if she could tell her Mom that she was a Power Ranger; it would definitely explain all her absences. Then again, her mom would probably freak and lock her in the basement for a year.

"Why were you so late?"

"Tommy and I were at the Command Center. I was showing him a couple things and he told us what he could of the Lunar Palace. Zordon says we can't stage an attack - that whole no-escalating-a-battle rule, you know?" Kim nodded, and he continued, "But knowing more about the capabilities will make us more effective. Anyway, we were there for a while... it was hard for him to talk about his time up there. Even then, I think he spent most of his time on Earth or in the Dark Dimension..."

Kim was silent. She hoped Jason would leave the subject alone-

"Speaking of Tommy, why'd you take off on Saturday? I _know _you didn't have any plans - you told me so when you arrived."

'_Figures. Of course he wouldn't drop it.'_ She rolled her eyes. Jason was one of her best friends - and had been her first real friend - but sometimes he could be really oblivious… or maybe stubborn was the right word.

"I just needed some time by myself," she prevaricated. _'As in, not near Tommy until I can figure out how I feel about him.'_

Jason looked like he wasn't buying it, and she quickly asked, "What about you? Did you invite Zack to come up with you and Tommy? Or hang out with him afterward?"

He glared at her. "No. Zack had family over for the weekend; he spent yesterday with them."

She would have pursued the subject, but they'd arrived at school. "I have to go talk to Mr. Caplan about next week's charity event," Jason murmured. Kim wished him a good day and watched him stroll off before going to her locker. None of her friends were in sight; then again, somehow, she and Jason had made really good time on their walk to school. She was still pretty early... early enough to try and hunt down Billy. He'd probably be over in the science wing.

At her locker, it was hard to push down the memories. Was it really only a week ago that Tommy had scared off Bulk and Skull? _'It feels like it was forever ago.' _ His smile, the hopeful look in his eye when she introduced herself and invited him to the Youth Center...

Then her mind flashed back to approaching him the following day, remembering his cold demeanor. _"Newsflash, Kimberly. You are not the center of everybody's universe."_

But that was under Rita's influence, right? He'd been so adorably shy when he'd first approached her... so why were things so awkward now?

She was Kimberly Hart, darn it, and she feared no man!

-xxx-

As the bell rang for the end of the day, Billy smiled. A day so far without any monster attacks – without anything from Rita, absent of even Goldar and the putties – was one that thrilled him, especially given the previous week.

'_Perhaps Rita's powers were overtaxed controlling Tommy, magically inducing the eclipse, and creating access into her Dark Dimension,'_ Billy mused. No matter; whatever the reason, it was time he could use to bring the zords back up to full strength. Alpha's drones were a great help in restoring them to their original glory, but he had some necessary changes planned.

He really wished he could violently rend whoever had chosen to fuel them via solar power. It was a ridiculous notion; green and economical, yes, but as had been proven earlier, it was a danger to the team to sudden have little reserve to draw on. The scientist also wondered how he'd managed to overlook that particular flaw while researching the Command Center's systems. He'd done extensive research on the zords' capabilities; the lapse in judgment was embarrassing and he felt as though he had a lot to make up for.

As Billy reached his locker (handily dodging Bulk and Skull, who were lurking near Kimberly's locker yet again), he heaved a sigh of relief. He had few classes with Trini, and he wanted her assistance in working on the new circuitry for the zords. There were a few options he could choose from – balancing power, reliability and plausibility would be important, considering his friends were not exactly scientifically- and mechanically-inclined, so it would be up to him, Alpha and Trini to keep the equipment in top shape once everything was installed.

He caught a glimpse of Tommy at his own locker and grinned in what others would probably refer to as his "geek-in-heaven" look. The Green Ranger's zord was the one he most wanted to get his hands on. The Dragonzord managed to rest at the bottom of the harbor and still work as well as any of the others; no rust, no strain on the controls. Tommy somehow controlled it with music, although Billy was certain there was more to it than that. Zordon had explained to Billy early on that The Power was, to put it simply, an intriguing mix of magic and technology, some of it unquestionable.

That didn't stop Billy from searching for answers anyway. Just to think of the endless possibilities, what that sort of technology could mean for the human race, thrilled him to no end.

"Tommy!"

The teen looked up as Billy approached. "Hey, Billy. What's up?"

"I was wondering if you were planning on accompanying us for refreshment and calisthenics now that the school day has ended."

Tommy tilted his head, "Uh… yeah. I was going to go to the Juice Bar. Is that where everybody's going to be?"

"Of course. Jason has a class to mentor; Kimberly will no doubt run through her balance beam routine before perhaps choosing to work her choreography for her floor routine. I have a project to put forth to Trini, and would like your input as well."

Tommy looked shocked. "_My_ input?"

"Certainly. It has to do with our metallic friends," Billy hinted as a large pack of schoolmates rushed past toward the door. Tommy nodded his understanding.

Seeing his new friend still appeared uncomfortable, Billy endeavored to ease the tension. "Were you more able to easily follow Mr. Fewler today?"

"Hey, yeah!" Tommy smiled as he shoved that particular book in his bag. "I wanted to thank you. It was a bit easier, but now-"

"You guys coming?" Jason hollered to be heard from over by the door.

As the two teens hurried to join their friends, Billy realized there was something _off _about the group. Jason stood with his arms crossed; Kimberly looked put out and Trini appeared exasperated. The two girls stood between the Red Ranger and Zack, who had an indecipherable look on his face as he watched Billy and Tommy walk up.

"Is everything okay?"

"No-"

"It's fine," Jason said, cutting Kim off quite quickly. "Let's just get going. I have a larger class today since last week's Monday class was canceled."

The walk to the Youth Center was quiet – not a comfortable silence, either. As Billy didn't consider himself very socially-savvy, he wondered how bad it truly was that _he_ was picking up on the problem. By the way Kim kept eying Jason, he suspected it had to do with the falling out between Zack and Jason.

Perhaps the problem was larger than he'd expected on Saturday.

They cut through a corner of the park on the way, Trini and Billy discussing their plans (Trini was, as he'd expected, more than willing to help him) while Jason and Tommy listened to their technobabble, occasionally asking for clarification. Behind them, Kimberly was discussing choreography with Zack; Billy found her discussion almost as confusing as she found his.

They'd just arrived when Kim pushed between him and Jason with a murmured apology and grabbed Jason by the arm.

"I need to talk to you." Without waiting for a response, she dragged him aside. Tommy's brows narrowed.

Zack snickered, sing-songing, "Busted!" while Trini giggled.

Billy continued his trek into the Youth Center, wanting nothing to do with a Kimberly dead-set on helping her friends whether they liked it or not.

-xxx-

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about this? It's not healthy to keep things bottled up."

Zack stared down the Yellow Ranger before remembering that engaging her in any such contest was futile. "I'm sure, Trini. Look, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but there's no helping this. I have my feelings, Jason has his, and they're not exactly compatible." He was talking softly but quickly, hoping not to be overheard by Tommy, who was coming back over to their table.

"Look, I understand your concerns, Zack. It's wise of you to keep them in mind, but-"

"Sorry; I gotta go." Cutting her off, he leapt from his seat and wandered over to where Angela was working out, clearly hoping to talk her into a date.

Trini watched him go, frustrated, and let out a sigh. Sometimes, her friends were just far too unbending for their own good. It wreaked havoc on her sanity. The clatter of a tray being placed on the table drew her attention to her right. "Hey, Tommy."

"Hey. Everything okay? You look kinda bummed out."

He may have beaten them several times, but he could really be a sweetheart. Trini hoped Kim would get over whatever strange hang-ups she had. He needed a girl like Kim to bring the light back to his eyes.

"As okay as it could be, considering certain people keep pushing away my attempts to help," Trini grumbled, giving in to a rare moment of venting.

Tommy shifted in his seat, pulling out his science book again. "Well, if you're offering free help…" he trailed off, looking sheepish, and her heart went out to him. "Want to lend another hand in my physics homework?"

She nudged Billy, who'd been filling out complex equations regarding his new plans for the zords, and the genius looked up. "We'd be glad to help. Right, Billy?"

The three worked quietly, slowly helping Tommy make sense of the numbers and formulas.

"So, how are things?" she asked as they took a break. When he looked at her questioningly, she elaborated, "after everything that happened…" She didn't want to pick at healing wounds, but Tommy looked like a wound coil. He needed to talk about these things. Jason had mentioned their trip to the Command Center, and they both knew that Tommy fighting with them would help assuage some of the guilt – it would never fully go away – but he really needed to talk through what he was thinking.

Jason had the same habit of keeping everything locked inside. It made her and Kimberly want to scream. Zack was better – well, had been, Trini reminded herself silently. Why did he pick now to be as stubborn as his friend?

With a sigh, Tommy wilted under her stern look. "I'm dealing, I guess."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm focusing on my schoolwork and karate," he explained. "And I'm trying to… well, to fit in here without pushing anybody aside." He hung his head, peeking up through his lashes. It was unfair for a guy to have such pretty eyes. "Jason and you keep pushing and pulling me into this, and I really haven't had a lot of friends before now. It's actually a lot harder than being a loner."

Trini nodded understandingly, wearing an apologetic smile. "We're a team, Tommy. If we're all friends, we'll work together more effectively against Rita. And besides, you need friends."

Billy murmured an agreement.

Tommy was about to respond when Kim seemingly appeared out of nowhere and slammed her math book on the table, startling all three of them. Looking up, she steeled herself; Kim's face was bright red and she appeared ready to kill somebody.

Considering who she'd been talking with, Trini would bet a healthy amount of money that the "somebody" was Jason.

"He told me," Kim said without preamble, "that I should 'Mind my own business.'" She scoffed. "As if!"

Trini cringed. Jason couldn't possibly be thinking clearly. He and Kim told each other everything; denying Kim information in what she had labeled a crisis was a surefire way to tick her off and to make her push all the harder. What was wrong with him?

Kim hadn't stopped. "It was like, one of the most whacked-out conversations I have ever had with that stubborn boy. He kept grumbling – as if _he_ has any reason to be upset!" She stomped a foot, either unaware or uncaring of the looks she was getting. "What in the world is wrong with him?"

"I was just wondering the same thing," Trini admitted, following Jason's figure with her eyes as he left the locker room to teach his class. His shoulders were tense, but his head was slightly bowed. He was clearly thinking about whatever Kim had said, even if he'd told her to bug off.

"Does he like, not even care? We can't have stupid fights like this, you know? It'll make us more of a target – even _I_ know that."

Kim flopped into a chair next to Tommy; as Trini turned her head to watch her friend, she caught the confused look on his face and stifled a giggle.

"I mean, really," she continued. "I know he's all super-competitive and that _oh no_ somebody might not agree with him… at least, that's what I'm guessing, based on the super-limited info he would actually share before he zipped his lips. But we can't have this! He and Zack keep this up, and we're pretty much doomed. He wouldn't even tell me _what_ they were fighting about!" she wailed.

From the other side of the Center, Zack looked up. Trini watched his eyes widen when Kim's voice carried; he began to sidle toward the entrance and she had to bite back a chuckle.

Apparently, he didn't want to be the Pink Ranger's next victim.

"They need to figure this out, if I have to sit them down in my bedroom and lock them there until they kiss and make up. Well not literally, because that would be totally weird. You know what I mean. Really, though-"

Trini took a deep breath and interrupted. "It'll be alright, Kim. They'll figure it out; they're too close not to. We shouldn't panic. And you know if you keep pushing, Jason's going to just push back. He's stubborn like that."

"Yeah, he can be dumb like that," Kim acknowledged with a sigh, blowing the bangs out of her face. "Doesn't mean I have to like it, though." She looked down and realized there was a strawberry smoothie in front of her. "Uh, thanks, whoever got me this."

The table was silent, though Trini observed a blush spreading across Tommy's cheeks. She was further amused when Kim tilted her head to the side and jerked slightly as though suddenly realizing he was, in fact, sitting next to her. The girl ran a hand through with her hair, trying in vain to look nonchalant, and Trini couldn't help but tease.

"You know, Kim, you really shouldn't expose Tommy to so much Kim-logic at one time," she mockingly chided. Next to her, Billy snorted in amusement.

It would have been hard to say who was blushing harder. Tommy and Kim were looking anywhere but at each other; Tommy appearing to watch Jason's class over Kim's head while Kim shot daggers at Trini with her eyes. _'Stop it!'_ she mouthed.

Trini winked and tapped Tommy on the shoulder. He turned questioningly and she smiled. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll catch on quickly. Nobody expects you to speak fluent 'Kim' yet."

Billy choked on his smoothie, and Kim's death-ray glare zoned in on him. "I must admit," he joined in to Trini's surprise, merriment dancing in his blue eyes, "that conversing with the ever-popular Kimberly Hart is akin to mental gymnastics when she is truly incensed about something. It often takes a certain amount of specious and superficial observations, combined with an erudite history of the strangely accurate leaps of reasoning, to truly follow where she's coming from."

Kim and Tommy blinked while Trini giggled. Trini's amusement – proof, in Kim's mind, that Billy was using big words to be mean – only served to sour Kim's mood further.

"I don't know what you said, but I have a tendency to be right, so _there_," Kim asserted.

"He included that part," Trini said consolingly.

Tommy smiled. "Then it can't have been that bad… does it really matter how you arrive at the answer as long as it's the right one?" Kim didn't appear convinced.

"Basically," Trini translated for the two, "Kim-logic relies on some fairly illogical and… well, what some people would consider frivolous observations. Still, she has an uncanny track-record for being right, which just goes to show you that you can't judge a book by its cover."

Tommy seemed to mull over the description, finally managing to look at Kim as though mentally imprinting Trini's words over his original judgment of Kim. Trini wondered if he'd peered past Kim's good looks to see the person below… if he was interested, even, or if Kim would let him in after all the weirdness that happened.

Then again, they were Power Rangers. Weirdness was pretty commonplace in their lives.

Kim grudgingly accepted the explanation, though she still couldn't bring herself to meet Tommy's eyes. She quickly finished her drink and waved off Billy's offer of help on her homework for the time being, deciding to run through her beam routine instead.

-xxx-

"_Well, fine then. Let me just say that I don't know what's going on between the two of you and obviously you're not going to tell me… which, by the way, _does_ tick me off because it's not right for you to keep secrets. Anyway, the point is that you need to figure out what's got you so upset, fix it, and if you did something wrong or dumb you have to swallow your pride and just deal, okay?"_

Jason hated it when she was right. Her words rang in his head as he walked out of the locker room with just a minute to spare before he was supposed to call class to order. The class had been growing since Rita had appeared; while it was rare for putties to attack people other than the Rangers, monsters could appear at any time and were often accompanied by the gray goobers. It seemed a lot of parents would rather be safe than sorry and have their children know a bit of self-defense.

'_Maybe I should find out if Tommy wants to help me teach,'_ he thought as he watched the kids run through a warm-up kata. _'We could probably open a class for adults, too. Mothers, maybe. Not a whole lot of crime since the Rangers showed up, but it can't hurt. And extra money would be great for dates.'_

Not that he was seeing anybody yet, but still. Hey, if Tommy and Kim hooked up…

The class seemed to fly by, and Jason inwardly sighed when there was no break due to a monster attack. Maybe Rita would keep going easy on them. He mentally struck that thought out after a moment of reflection. Any time it took Rita more than a day or two to attack, she seemed to be up to something pretty awful.

"Class dismissed!"

The chatter from the departing kids almost drowned out a student slipping over to ask a question. "Sensei?"

"Yes, Jack?" The dark-haired boy had just moved to the area and already seemed to idolize Jason. The Red Ranger refused to admit how much he actually enjoyed it.

"Are you gonna be in the team competition?" The boy was incredibly excited, actually bouncing foot to foot despite the tiring lesson.

Jason wracked his mind but couldn't think of one… "Wait, you mean the two-person one?" He'd seen a couple posters advertising it. He and Zack had been talking about maybe doing it; Zack wasn't as much into specialized karate competitions, preferring a venue to use his Hip Hop Kido instead. But now that Tommy was hanging with them…

"Yeah! It's going to be so cool! I wanna cheer for you but you gotta have a team-mate. I'd offer," he said seriously, and Jason had to cover his mouth to hide his smile, "but I think I'm too young. But seriously, you should do it!"

"I'll think about it; I've got a great partner in mind." With Tommy by his side, they'd be unbeatable. He ruffled Jack's hair. "Go get dressed; your mom'll be here soon."

"'kay. Thanks for the help today!"

Behind the kid, Jason saw Zack wander slowly back into the Center. He'd seen the Black Ranger make a quiet escape when Kim began ranting and had secretly wished he could do the same.

She had been right, though. They were fighting over stupid stuff – Jason had to admit that it was only his pride that was damaged. Zack had some good points… even if they pretty much moot now. The least he could have done was listen to Zack without being a kid about it-

_Beep beep beep-beep beep beep…_

'_I'll talk to Zack later,'_ he told himself before moving over to the table, Zack at his heels.

Duty called – time to put the drama on the back burner.


	4. Five Becomes Six

4 - Five Becomes Six

It was an absolute mess.

The Rangers arrived, morphed, at the park to absolute chaos. Apparently Rita's monster, Goldar, and some putties had crashed an elementary school picnic. Children and parents were separated; some kids had taken off, leaving adults calling for them.

'_We really need to set up some sort of public service announcement on how to handle attacks,'_ Jason made a mental note. He went to issue orders before realizing that the Pink and Yellow Rangers had rushed to protect the children from the putties. The Blue Ranger had his lance out and was creating a path through the mess for the adults, to get all the victims in one spot. The Black Ranger had engaged the monster – was that a giant, walking, talking _cookie?_ Sometimes, Jason was convinced Rita was on drugs – and was pulling it away from the nucleus of the battle to keep the innocents out of it.

It was good to see his team working together so well.

The Red Ranger was incredibly chagrined, however, to realize his heart jumped when he saw the Tommy facing off against Goldar. It wasn't concern for a member of his team… it was fear. The Green Ranger had been a terror for just long enough for Jason to regard him as an enemy, despite the Power's soothing _'teammate'_ feeling.

He'd learned to fight that feeling when Tommy was under Rita's spell. Getting acquainted to it being truth was going to take a few fights, more than likely.

'_And this might have been one of the reasons Zack thought you acted a bit too quickly,'_ that little voice in his head chided.

Ignoring the thought – it was too late now, anyway – he grabbed his Power Sword and joined Tommy's side after checking to be sure Zack was holding his own. The monster didn't seem all that strong or smart… just more of Rita's normal fare. Goldar was a bit more of a threat, and usually chasing the monkey away meant getting rid of the putties, too.

"Hey, go help Billy," he ordered. "We have to get the citizens out of here."

The Green Ranger nodded, ignoring Goldar's parting verbal shot, and sheathed his dagger.

"Why, Red Ranger, I thought you'd let your new lackey do the work for you," the titan mocked.

Jason gritted his teeth. "The Green Ranger is one of us, Goldar! Too bad for you that Rita's spell just couldn't hold up! He's working for the right side now."

"Really?" the creature asked with a grin. "Because it looks like nobody told _them_ that."

Jason spun, dropping his guard for a moment at the screams coming from the few remaining bystanders when Tommy grew near.

'_Son of a-'_

Goldar cackled as he slashed his sword from Jason's shoulder to hip, throwing sparks from the magically-powered suit and drawing a cry from his lips. The Red Ranger tightened his grip on his sword and fought back harshly, taking out every bit of frustration from the last week out on Rita's right-hand "man." Within minutes, Goldar teleported out, leaving Jason to figure out his next move.

While they'd been fighting, apparently the Black Ranger had switched with the Green, both getting Tommy away from the frightened civilians and giving them a demonstration that the Ranger who once rampaged through Angel Grove with his zord was on the right side now.

At least, that's what Jason thought Zack had done. Either way, it was a smart move on his part, and could only help in the future.

With a bit of teamwork, the putties were taken down and the civilians were able to flee. The five converged on where Tommy was easily holding his own against the monster.

"Guys, let's bring them together," Jason ordered, watching as the other rangers pulled out their weaponry. Before they could form the Power Blaster, though, Rita sent her wand to the Earth, and the cookie grew to the size of a skyscraper.

"There's not enough milk in the world for that thing," Zack joked, though it sounded forced. "Whaddaya say we turn this thing into crumbs?"

"Good idea," Tommy agreed. "Zord time?"

Jason nodded in confirmation and led the team in their summoning cry of, "We need Dinozord Power, now!"

The Green Ranger twirled his Dragon Dagger in his hands. "Uh, I'll hold off for this battle, unless…" he trailed off, as the Dinozords made their way to the Rangers.

"That's probably for the best," the Yellow Ranger commented. "It might make the citizens panic."

"Stay where you can hear and see us," Jason ordered Tommy. "If things go downhill, we'll have you call him in."

"Alright."

With that, the Red Ranger led the group in leaping to the cockpits of their zords, choosing to bring them together quickly rather than fight on their own.

The monster swiped at them once they'd formed (Jason always wondered why the monsters waited until the transformation was complete - maybe they had a monster code they had to follow?); they countered with a powerful punch. Zack began laughing uncontrollably as the warm hand of the Megazord smooshed into the giant cookie, sending crumbs tumbling to the ground.

"This is going to be one of the more delicious monsters to help clean up after," he joked.

Jason rolled his eyes behind his visor, though Trini and Kim giggled along. "All of Angel Grove will totally be buying clothes a size larger," Kim agreed.

"Guys," the Green Ranger broke in, sounding like he was holding back a chuckle, "you may want to finish this fight quickly. The giant crumbs are pretty nuts."

"Good idea," Jason confirmed. He called upon the Power Sword quickly, charging it and letting loose a vicious swipe. With that, the monster crumbled before exploding outward. Jason groaned, knowing it would be raining bits of chocolate chip cookie everywhere.

Kim sighed. "Better than bug guts, I guess," she sighed.

"There won't be any power-related effects of the crumbs that we should warn people about, right?" the Yellow Ranger asked Billy. "If so, we should contact the news to pass it on."

"I don't believe the energy from the Morphin' Grid will cause adverse reactions in average humans," the Blue Ranger said after a moment. "Rita's magic does not tend to linger and in all of my studies, I have never taken note of residual traces of Morphin' Power after a Zord battle. I would suspect the same will hold true this time."

"That's a 'no', right?" Jason confirmed. Billy nodded; good enough for him.

"Let's break up the zords and try and break up some of the largest pieces," Zack suggested. "And use the Triceratops' chains for the parts large enough to be dragged away. I can freeze some of them with the Mastodon."

Plan in place, the zords disengaged. As everybody else got to work, Jason jumped down and sent his zord back into the Earth. "Let's lead the ground crews," he suggested. "We sometimes team up with firefighters and police officers with the worst damage; this will give us a chance to show you working with us."

Tommy nodded, and Jason wished he could see past the Green Ranger's helmet.

After making sure that the threat was gone, and that the emergency officials had clean-up underway, Zordon ordered them back to the Command Center for a debriefing.

Jason sighed once they arrived. If all battles were going to be like this, he was seriously going to consider moving halfway around the world.

-xxx-

Sore, tired, and feeling just a bit guilty, Zack teleported outside his house and wandered inside. "I'm home!"

"Dinner will be ready in an hour, honey," his mom told him. "How was your day? Did you get stuck in the monster attack?"

_'You could say that,' Zack thought ruefully, thinking about his poor chocolate-smudged zord. "Yeah. The guys and I stayed safe until the Power Rangers saved the day."_

Zack thought ruefully, thinking about his poor chocolate-smudged zord. "Yeah. The guys and I stayed safe until the Power Rangers saved the day."

Mrs. Taylor narrowed her eyes. "You looked tired."

"Did a lot of running," he offered. "Those gray things showed up and the park where we were at. They were near kids, so we helped chase them away."

His mother shook her head, frustrated. "You're so reckless, Zackary! They could have really hurt you!"

"We left when the Rangers got there," he lied. "But like I said, I'm really tired and could use a nap. Mind if I crash before dinner?"

His mother wandered over and ran a loving hand over his shoulder. "Go ahead. If you nap through dinner, I'll set a plate aside for you." She kissed him lightly on the cheek. "You may have made a dangerous decision... but I'm proud of you. You do such good things for people."

"Thanks, mom." Zack forced a small smile. _'You have no idea.'_

With a groan, he made his way up the stairs, flopping onto his bed. The day felt like it had just dragged on - from classes to Trini's and Kimberly's knowing looks and prodding, to Jason's avoidance and then the battle...

Zack winced, remembering how everybody had reacted to seeing Tommy on the battlefield. Fighting with him had been difficult; like the others, he was sure, he had subconsciously trained himself to be on his guard against the Green Ranger. He'd rushed the monster rather than fighting alongside Tommy... it looked good, yeah, but the fact of the matter was that it was earlier to ignore his presence while battling a giant cookie.

_'A giant cookie. What's next, a huge hot dog? A s'more monster?' _ Chuckling over Rita's random choices was easier than facing the nagging voice in the back of his head... the voice that said he'd been wrong.

Tommy had thrown himself wholeheartedly into the fight, even when the citizens had been terrified. He hadn't argued with any of Jason's orders and had even listened to Zack when he'd intervened, sending the Green Ranger to fight the monster and get some distance from spectators.

To be honest, he felt bad for Tommy. He'd been under a spell and now had to deal with the aftereffects: both his own, and those of the people around him. Really, it wasn't his fault people were on edge… and yet it might have been, come to think of it… _'Maybe if he hadn't been so awesome against Jase-'_

But that was a weak argument at best, he acknowledged. There was no way to know why Rita had chosen Tommy, just like he and his friends would never really know why Zordon chose them of all people to save the planet. Considering they'd walked out on the mentor when first approached (well, first snatched out of the Youth Center, at least), it hadn't been the wizard's greatest decision. Yet they fought well as a team and rallied against everything Rita threw at them.

Perhaps there was a place for Tommy, after all.

Zack felt a bit better as he slowly came to that realization, and wondered why he wasn't more pleased. Tommy was an asset on the battlefield and he handled the citizens' terror with as much ease as he could; he didn't show how much it hurt (and it had to have, of that Zack was certain) and didn't let it affect his fighting in the least.

So why was he still feeling a bit... off?

Zack cast back to after the battle. While he'd been stomping around Angel Grove in his zord freezing the larger chocolate bits (the last thing they needed was a giant chocolate chip melting in the California sun and covering everything in sticky, sugary goo), Jason and Tommy had been dealing with the ground crews. Partway through the clean-up, the two had begun talking about teaming up for a martial arts competition.

The sort of thing he'd do with Jason, if Tommy hadn't come along.

Was that it? Zack sat up, burying his face in his hands. Was he jealous? He and Jason had been friends since he'd moved to Angel Grove in second grade. They'd done so much together... was he intimidated by Tommy, who shared so many more interests with Jason?

That was silly. It was stupid. It was irrational - but then again, most feelings like that were. Jason wouldn't just abandon a friend because another person came along. In fact, all of his actions (outside of dismissing Zack's point-of-view outright) had been to bring Tommy into the group of friends - emphasis on "group".

Zack sighed and decided to take a shower before hitting his sheets...

He had a feeling he'd have trouble sleeping.

-xxx-

Tommy sighed, raking his hands through his damp hair as he tried to focus on what little left-over homework remained from his stint working for Rita. He tried to focus, but the words on the page blurred together… and it was hard to think over the echoing screams of people in his head.

'_Why'd it have to be me?'_ he wondered, not for the first time. Hearing the people he pledged to protect run in fear and beg for mercy – from him! – had tied his stomach up in knots. At that moment, Tommy had wished to teleport straight out of there; to leave his coin at the Command Center and never look back.

But he couldn't. He had so much to make up for… he _needed_ to set things as right as he could. And, damn him for being selfish, but he really enjoyed having friends. He didn't want that to end, and it might if he wasn't a part of the team.

That, and he was pretty sure Jason and Trini wouldn't _let _him walk away at this point.

'_I wonder what Kimberly would think…'_

He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to wrench his thoughts back to the English book in front of him. Instead, a child's terrified face flashed through his head, and he shoved his chair backward, cursing softly.

'_Well, really, what did I think was going to happen?'_ The people of Angel Grove had a remarkable resilience to things like monsters, giant robots and spandex-clad people (though his parents believed the Rangers to be aliens, which amused him greatly). Other than a few minor panicked moments, they seemed to go about their day, pitching in with donations and assistance when a house was trampled or when crumbs from a giant cookie monster rained down on the city.

But the Power Rangers hadn't been around for long, and it was probably a shock for a person who was once grown to skyscraper-sized proportions as an evil minion to suddenly be fighting alongside the heroes he had tried to kill.

Tommy quickly changed into a spare gi, deciding to try a kata to clear his mind before attempting schoolwork again. As he went down the stairs, though, he was distracted by a conversation from his parents' room…

"See? I told you everything would work out. There was no reason to worry." His dad sounded pleased.

'_Worry about what?'_

"Don't tell me that!" His mother huffed. "We moved here and in the span of a few days he became more silent than ever! One day he looked like he could float-" Tommy blushed, remembering how happy he'd been after the karate competition. "-and the next, he was so grouchy and sullen… don't tell me not to worry!"

"Well, whatever happened, it looks like things are back to normal now… better, actually. He went to meet some friends over the weekend, remember? He's settling in a lot better here."

Tommy shook his head and kept walking, making his way to the back yard.

He began stretching out, focusing his mind on absolutely nothing. _'Peace.'_ No Rangers, no civilians, no Rita. No Angel Grove, no redemption… just peace, calm and quiet.

Tommy moved smoothly through one of the more simple katas he knew, focusing on his balance. Finally relaxing, he allowed himself to think about the karate tournament Jason had suggested they sign up for.

'_A team competition?'_ He'd never done anything like it, but it sounded like a blast. Jason was his equal on the mats; he was sure they'd work together well. It's be nice to show his skills to somebody who seemed as into it as he was. Although it was a little strange that Jason asked him to compete, rather than Zack. Weren't the two best friends?

That gave him pause. Zack had been nothing but nice to him… well, maybe a bit silent, actually. While it didn't seem like the Black Ranger was going out of his way to avoid Tommy, it felt as though he would prefer to keep his distance. It was a disappointment, actually. Zack seemed like a better person to talk to about Kim (if he could ever get the nerve!); Jason had a nearly frightening big-brother attitude about him, and Trini seemed amused by the whole thing. Also, there was his Hip Hop Kido – Tommy knew he'd love to learn a bit more of it. It was always good to learn a new style, especially one that hadn't been popularized.

'_Maybe I should try to be better friends with him,'_ Tommy decided. It was weird; approaching other people wasn't really his style. But Zack was a teammate, and a potential friend… and for once, Tommy felt himself craving companionship.

At his waist, his Power Coin pulsed faintly.

'_Yeah… I'll search him out tomorrow.'_


	5. Coming Together

5 - Changes

Billy stumbled in through the doors just in time to hear the second bell ring and bit back a curse. He'd managed to sleep completely through his alarm after a late night of tweaking the zords... and cleaning them of cookie residue. He darted to his locker, hoping to avoid-

"Mr. Cranston!"

_'Figures,' _he grumped to himself, pasting on a smile for the school's principal.

"Good morning, Mr. Caplan."

"It's rare to see you arriving late, Billy. Is everything at home alright?"

Billy smiled. Mr. Caplan could be a taskmaster, and sometimes unintentionally humorous, but his heart was in the right place. "Just fine, sir. I simply failed to awaken when my alarm sounded."

Mr. Caplan nodded. "Happens to the best of us... I'm in a good mood, so we'll just consider this a warning - don't be tardy again, or I'll have to put you in detention." Putting a stern look on his face, he nodded determinedly and continued his hunt for students loitering in the halls.

Billy sighed with relief before realizing that every moment he stood around was another second out of class; with that thought, he quickly loaded his backpack and rushed to class.

The day passed all too slowly for the tired Blue Ranger. Finally, the bell rang for lunch, and for the first time in a long while, Billy was the first one out of the science lab. He made a beeline for the lunchroom – having forgotten his sandwich at home in his hurry – and eyed the unappetizing choices dubiously before deciding on a salad.

Tray in hand, Billy found himself relaxing in the company of his friends. Kim was playfully complaining about the battle the day before.

"We should have kept the monster," she said. "We could have locked it away somewhere as a chocolate-making machine or something."

"And wherever would we have kept it? It wouldn't fit in the Command Center," Trini pointed out, her eyes sparkling in amusement.

Kim grinned and shrugged. "By the zords? Zack's is encased in ice; we could have frozen the monster and hauled it out every time we needed a sugary pick-me-up."

"I thought you said you didn't need the extra temptation," Jason mocked. "Aren't you afraid you'd gain ten pounds?"

She stuck her tongue out at him, to the merriment of the others. "I'd work it off in gymnastics. Besides," she added, blowing her bangs out of her face, "there's nothing wrong with a never-ending supply of chocolate. I'm not saying we'd eat it all the time… I'm saying it'd be there if we wanted it."

"Well, I'd be happy never to see chocolate again," Billy muttered.

"Problems, my main brain?" Zack asked. It wasn't often their resident scientist sounded so disgruntled.

"Crumbs everywhere," Billy groaned. "The Triceratops is filled with them after hauling the largest pieces. Crumbs and chocolate are stuck in the chains, and it got into the gears, too."

"Ah."

The table fell silent, and it suddenly occurred to Billy that Zack and Jason were at opposite ends – as far from each other as they could get. He looked questioningly at Trini, who shrugged, and then rolled his eyes. Really, weren't they over their little spat yet?

Tommy spoke up, looking uncomfortable about breaking the tense silence. "Hey, Billy, did you need some help cleaning up? I owe you one after the help with Mr. Fewler."

Billy was pleasantly surprised at the offer. "Certainly."

"I'm not really tech-savvy," the Green Ranger admitted sheepishly, looking a bit red. "But I can definitely help clean stuff."

"That'd be much-appreciated," he responded. "Perhaps we can go later tonight… or even tomorrow. Alpha is working on a solution to help eat through the worst of it."

"Yeah, man. Just let me know."

By that time, Kim had begun discussing her plans for a trip to the mall with Trini, who was adding in a couple things she needed to pick up. Jason was teasing them (much to Kim's chagrin), and Zack appeared… wistful? He was watching Jason out of the corner of his eye, looking deep in thought.

Billy snorted softly. _'Really, it's just like the way Kim looks at Tommy.'_ After a moment, he re-assessed, _'Well, not exactly. But close. They want to act on it – why don't they?'_

-xxx-

Kimberly snorted and stomped her foot, glaring at her foe sternly.

The stack of chairs remained unmoved and unimpressed.

The petite gymnast blew the bangs from her forehead, frustrated. "Why won't you move? And who the heck stacked these so tall?" She cursed her shortness silently and wished she'd thought to ask Zack or Jason for help. Not only was she getting absolutely nowhere; she was missing valuable practice time.

_'I'm not a cheerleader any more... so why am I still volunteering to help out at pep rallies?'_

she wondered not for the first time. Popularity was looking more and more overrated all the time...

She was so busy glaring (and trying to figure out how to get the chairs down the hall to the gymnasium) and she never head the door open.

"Need some help?"

Kim let out a yelp, spinning and falling into a defensive stance before realizing it was Tommy. She dropped her arms sheepishly, feeling a blush burn at her cheeks. _'Way to look like a paranoid idiot!'_

Tommy was resting his chin on a raised hand, but it couldn't cover the grin twitching at his lips. She grumbled to herself before fixing him with a sour look. "Not nice to sneak up on people."

"Sorry." He looked anything but, and Kim resisted the urge to stomp her foot again. "Did you need some help?"

"What are you doing here?" Kim asked in return, torn between much-needed assistance and the embarrassment of admitting she just couldn't budge the over-stacked carts of chairs. "Shouldn't you be at the Youth Center?"

Tommy shrugged. "I was going to head over there, but saw you through the door." He blushed as if realizing how that sounded; she found it ridiculously cute. "You looked like you were having trouble, so..." He trailed off, fluttering his hands a bit before dropping them to his sides, looking awkward.

She smiled, a little more at ease knowing that Tommy wasn't all too sure of himself, either. "Um, yeah. I need to get these chairs down to the gym for tomorrow's pep rally, but some _idiot_ stacked them way too high." She shifted, biting her lower lip. "It looks really lame, I know, but I just can't-"

Tommy waved her off. "Nah, it's fine." With a grin, he added, "That stack is taller than you. Gotta get them to the gym, you said?"

"Yeah."

With that, Tommy strode forward, studying the tower carefully before lifting down a few of the chairs. "Do you think you can carry these?"

"Of course."

"Great! I didn't want them to fall on me." He leaned forward, and Kim took a moment to admire the muscles of his shoulders, rippling a bit through his shirt.

Really, it was dangerous to her teenage hormones for him to look so good.

_'Not to mention his ass...'_

"You coming?"

Kim jumped again, blushing guiltily as he looked at her, confused. Had he noticed she was drooling over him? Oh God, she hoped not...

She followed him dutifully down the hall, doing her best to avoid staring. She sighed with relief as she got to the gym; setting out the chairs would be a welcome distraction.

"What now?" Tommy motioned to the chairs. "Need to set them up?"

"Oh! You don't need to help," Kim demurred. "Now that you helped shorten the pile, I can get them laid out."

"No, really," he insisted. "It's no trouble to help out... in fact, I'd like to."

Kim blinked, unsure of how to take his last comment. After a moment, she shrugged. "Okay. Ten chairs to a row in front of the bleachers. We should have enough for the current football teams, coaches and cheerleaders."

The two worked in silence. Thoughts flashed through Kim's head almost too quickly to catch. _'Why is he helping? He was so mean before... no, that's not fair. He was under Rita's spell. Remember? He chased off Bulk and Skull before that. So maybe he likes to help. Maybe he likes _me_- no, stop it! He's just being nice. And a sweetheart. And-' _She growled softly to herself, unable to rein in the idea that maybe-

"You okay?"

"Um, yeah..." Looking up, she caught a hesitant smile and found one of her own. "It was really sweet to help me out, thank you."

He ducked his head. "No problem... I feel better helping out, like I can maybe make up for..." He trailed off as his eyes widened comically, and he hastened to add, "Not that that's the only reason I want to help! I mean, you know... aw, man..." He rubbed the back of his neck, smiling wryly.

Kim laughed, tickled at his fumbling.

"I should- I'm gonna go grab another stack of chairs," he said hurriedly, and spun away.

Thinking quickly, Kim grabbed his hand. "Wait!"

Tommy turned back hesitantly.

Kim looked around, making sure nobody was around, before tugging him over to a chair. "I... I wanted to talk to you."

"Um... okay..."

For a few seconds, Kim just stared at him. For all his adorable fumbling and the loner vibes he gave off, he seemed so anxious to be accepted... and his eyes were shadowed. "You... you still feel really bad about what happened, don't you?" The moment the words were out of her mouth, she wanted to kick herself. _'Well, duh! He was evil and then yesterday, people were running and screaming from him!'_

Tommy couldn't meet her eyes, and for a moment, she thought he wouldn't answer. Eventually, she squeezed his hand, and he looked up at her.

"Uh, yeah. A little, I guess." He forced a small smile. "I... I wanted to apologize, you know," he said hurriedly, almost stumbling over his words. "I was really mean to you and it wasn't cool at all and-"

"Tommy... it's okay." And suddenly, Kim realized that it was. He'd been cruel, yes, but he was so obviously repentant that she couldn't find it in her to stay upset. That didn't mean she was completely at ease with him (after all, he was a really, really good-looking boy who at least at one time showed a little interest in her), but in the end, how he'd acted wasn't an issue anymore.

After all, she'd switched bodies with Billy, and certainly didn't have his smarts. And sadly, Billy hadn't retained her fashion sense, either. Evil spells and Ranger-related events faded with time, and Tommy's personality change had, too.

Kim pulled her thoughts back to the present, smiling reassuringly at the Green Ranger, who shrugged.

"I dunno, Kim. Maybe I shouldn't have kept the coin… maybe I should have let the whole Green Ranger thing die down."

Kim shook her head. "No! You're doing the right thing." She brought her other hand up, cupping his. "People are going to learn that you're a good person, because they'll see you fighting with us. Things are going to be okay. You're one of us now, you know? And no lame plans from Rita can ruin that!"

When Tommy finally smiled again, she nearly melted.

Then she looked at the clock. "Oh my gosh! I'm running so late. I'm so, so sorry but I have to get my plans to the girls before cheer practice is over."

"Aw, man! I'm going to be late, too. Jase wanted me to show his class a kata." He grabbed his book bag from where he'd tossed it by the door. Before he could leave, though, he turned and looked her in the eye.

"Hey… thanks. It was really cool of you to not be upset."

Kim smiled. "No problem, Tommy. That's what friends are for."

He nodded. "I'll see you at the Youth Center?"

"Yup! Be there once I'm done with the girls."

"Cool. I'll save you a seat."

Kim waited patiently. When the door shut, she counted to ten… and then squealed, spinning in a happy circle.

Maybe everything would be okay, after all.

-xxx-

Tommy sat at the table with Trini and Billy yet again, playing with his straw and continuing to glance at the door.

From the way Trini kept looking at him, a smile twitching at her lips, he figured he wasn't being as subtle as he'd like. "When's she supposed to get here?" she asked.

"Had to do something with the cheerleaders," he responded promptly – then realized he'd been tricked when Trini started laughing.

"Spent some time with her today?" Tommy's blush answered her just as well as he could; probably more truthfully. "Well, good. You should spend more time with each of us; we need to get to know you better."

Tommy narrowed his eyes at Trini. From the way Billy was smiling, it was clear the Yellow Ranger was up to something. Jason had warned him that Trini was crafty…

"For example, did you know Kim's favorite color is pink?"

Tommy glared, opening his mouth for a rebuttal when he was interrupted by a flash of said color.

"Hey guys!"

"Hi, Kim. We were just talking about you!"

Kim stared at Trini suspiciously. "You were? Why does that not make me feel better…?" Tommy saw her glance to him and back to Trini, who tilted her head. Kim let out a relieved sigh, and Tommy was convinced he'd never understand girls.

"You will not be practicing today?" Billy asked, looking up from his drawings. Tommy glanced over and saw what looked like schematics for the Dragonzord.

Kim shook her head. "I got held up at practice; the girls wanted me to run through a routine with them. Plenty of exercise for today… and honestly, I'm beat. I slept awful last night. Where's Zack?"

Tommy pointed in the direction of the corner where the Black Ranger was chatting with Angela, who for some reason looked at least halfway-interested in what he had to say. Tommy hadn't been around long enough to really understand, but from the burst of excited chatter between Kimberly and Trini, apparently this was a very important moment. He wished he could hear what Zack was saying – he wasn't quite sure how to approach Kim and could use the pointers – but it was difficult to hear over the sounds of Jason's karate class breaking up for the day. About the same time, however, Angela rolled her eyes at Zack, giving him a disgusted look before heading up to the bar.

Zack pouted for a moment before turning to face Jason. The two stared at each other for a moment before Zack made his way over. After a very short conversation, the two slapped palms and began sparring.

Kim and Trini had fallen silent. In fact, Kim's mouth had fallen open. Trini wore a look of consternation.

"Wait, that's _it_?" Kim's voice could have cracked glass. "After all that – after the drama and the avoiding and the glaring and the… that's just it? They're friends again?"

"They didn't even resolve anything," Trini murmured, eyes on the two as if watching them would somehow make their actions make sense.

Billy was hiding a grin behind his book, Tommy saw from the corner of his eye. When Kim turned to him, he shrugged. "They apparently figured whatever was wrong out. Guys don't do a lot of the mushy talking stuff."

"But they were fighting and now they're not," Kim pointed out. "Don't they have to, like, talk about their problems and stuff to get to that point?"

"No?" Tommy shrugged again. "Maybe it's a guy thing."

Trini slammed her cup down on the table. "Kim, I think you're right. Guys are dumb."

"Told you so!"

"Yeah, well… I can't argue it now. Kim-logic wins again. I mean, look at them! It's like nothing ever happened!"

Billy shut his book, turning to the girls. "Again, I do not believe it is reasonable to justify a sweeping generalization regarding the entirety of a gender based on one specific event."

Kim looked at Trini, who quickly translated. "He doesn't think we should say all guys are dumb based on this one stupid non-resolution to an argument." When Billy nodded, she muttered, "Even if they are."

Kim smiled at Billy and reached out to cover his hand with her own. "Aw, don't worry, Billy. You're not included into the group."

Billy looked confused.

"You're not a _boy_. You're a Billy," she clarified, as though it explained everything. "So you're different. You're a not-dumb guy."

Sitting back, Tommy watched the banter continue between the three of them. Billy was torn between refuting Kim's statement on principle and being pleased that he was not included in her theory. It was strange… feeling welcomed, included. As Trini worked to pull him into the conversation in support of the girls' side, he smiled.

Maybe he really did belong.


End file.
